Diane will be interred alongside her husband Rudy in Oak Hill Cemetery in San Jose. No public services are planned. Those who love her will celebrate in their own way. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Hospice of Santa Cruz County or the Monterey Bay Aquarium in her memory.

Fifth generation Californian Diane Leedom was born in San Jose, in 1932. In 1951 she married Rudy Warner and raised her family in her hometown. After serving in Korea, Rudy attended San Jose State University, and became a bioanalyst, eventually purchasing his own lab. Diane joined him in the running of Warner Medical Lab (5150 Graves Ave, San Jose, CA) until Rudy’s death in 1978.

In the early 1960s, they were able to purchase the home of her childhood dreams at 1675 Dry Creek Road, where she spent many happy years decorating, with the help of her children, and entertaining business associates, family, and friends.

Diane and Rudy purchased a cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountain town of Boulder Creek in 1970 (home now to daughter Debbie for 41+ years). They enjoyed frequent trips over Hwy 17 to the Monterey Bay area, especially Capitola and Carmel. Diane’s love of the beach led her to build “The Beach House” a beautiful gathering place for friends and family on the bluffs above Sunset State Beach in Watsonville. She did all the interior work herself with the help of her children.

In pursuit of another dream, in 1983 she and son Scott, with help from the other kids, renovated the iconic Victorian house at 1198 Fulton St. in San Francisco, and Diane opened The Warner Embassy Inn bed and breakfast, which she ran for several years before selling.

Between homes she lived with Debbie and Kevin and his wife Cathy, as well as in an artist studio in Monterey with Scott. She and Scott settled in the San Lorenzo Valley, CA in the late 1980s and lived together in homes on Debbie Ct. in Boulder Creek and River Road in Brookdale until his death in 2003. In late 2011 she moved into a studio apartment built especially for her by Kevin and other friends and family at Coco’s home.

During her time in the San Lorenzo Valley, Diane sold and displayed her art including paintings, decorated gourds, sketches, stationary, and miniatures at local businesses, craft fairs, and her online business A.D. Warner & Co.

She has been lovingly cared for by her children, especially Coco, and their loved ones the past few years as she struggled with her health and mobility. Diane wanted to live to be 83-years-old, the age her beloved maternal grandmother “Mimi” Blackford, who also had six children, achieved. She made it to 85 years, one month and one day! “Diane enriched our lives beyond measure with her kind and caring, creative and adventurous, generous and incredibly loving spirit. Memory eternal. May she rest in peace,” remarked daughter-in-law Cathy Warner.